Ateneo - UPO

The course proposes an introduction to gender as a concept and as an analytical perspective, in a interdisciplinary way.
The course will combine in particular historical and sociological perspective to explore the processes of social construction of masculinity and femininity, gendered division of work and power relations.

1. Course handouts available on the Dir site of the course

2. Federici, Silvia. Caliban and the Witch. Autonomedia, 2004.

3. Fraser, Nancy. “Contradictions of Capital and Care.” New Left Review, vol. 100, no. 99, 1 Aug. 2016, p. 117.

4. A text to be chosen among the following ones, or to be agreed upon with the teacher:
a. Garfinkel, Harold. Studies in ethnomethodology (Agnes), Routledge, 2016.
b. Davis, Angela.Women, race, and class. Vintage, 1983.
c. De Leo, Maya. Queer. Storia culturale della comunità LGBT+, 2021.
d. Bellé, Elisa. L'altra rivoluzione. Dal Sessantotto al femminismo, Rosenberg & Sellier, 2021.
e. Bellassai, Sandro. L'invenzione della virilità. Politica e immaginario maschile nell'Italia contemporanea, Carocci, 2011or Mosse, George L. Nationalism and sexuality: Middle-class morality and sexual norms in modern Europe. University of Wisconsin Press, 2020.
f. Farris, Sara R., In the name of women's rights. The rise of femonationalism, Duke University Press, 2017
g. Acquistapace, Leo (Alessia). Tenetevi il matrimonio e dateci la dote: Il lavoro riproduttivo nelle relazioni di intimità, solidarietà e cura oltre la coppia nell’Italia urbana contemporanea, Mimesis, 2022
h. Killomba, G., Memorie della piantagione. Episodi di razzismo quotidiano, Edizioni Capovolte, 2021

By providing knowledge about how the concept of gender has been used, the course aimes at providing the ability to use gender as an analytical perspective

Nothing

Lectures and seminars

Oral exam.
Regular attendees can substitute the texts from n. 4 with a written essay, to be agreed upon with the teacher.

We will analyze the processes of social construction of masculinity and femininity by exploring the origins and transformations of capitalism. We will look at how, changes in the social position of women and men are related to new understandings of the body and the relation with nature, and to the production of racial differences as well. This perspective will allow us to tackle with historical and theoretical depth the most topical questions in current debates on gender: the social roots of gender violence, the relations between care and climate crisis, an intersectional vies of inequalities, connecting gender, sexual, racial and class differences.

Students will acquire both knowledge on the concept of gender and on gender studies, and the ability to use gender as an analytical perspective